MEXICO CITY Mexico approved the extradition of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to the United States on Friday after receiving guarantees he would not face the death penalty, and the kinkgpin's lawyers vowed to block the move.

Juan Pablo Badillo, one of Guzman's lawyers, told Reuters he would file "many" legal challenges in the coming days, which could delay the drug lord's eventual extradition for weeks.

Guzman, head of the Sinaloa drug cartel, was the world's most wanted drug kingpin until his capture in January, six months after he broke out of a high-security penitentiary in central Mexico through a mile-long tunnel burrowed right up into his cell.

Mexico's foreign ministry said he would face charges including drug trafficking, money laundering and murder in U.S. federal courts in California and Texas. The ministry said it was given "sufficient guarantees" by the U.S. government that Guzman would not be executed. It was not immediately clear where Guzman would be sent in the United States.

Guzman's escape last year was a major embarrassment to President Enrique Pena Nieto, who entered office amid a bloody war between the government and drug cartels launched by his predecessor.

Pena Nieto dialed back cooperation with the United States after taking office in 2013, but soon after Guzman's recapture in January he said he had taken steps to ensure the kingpin would be extradited as soon as possible.

Earlier this month, Guzman was moved from a jail in central Mexico to a prison in Ciudad Juarez on the U.S. border, seen as a step closer to extradition.

WASHINGTON - Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against credit reporting firm Equifax following a breach that exposed personal data about up to 143 million people, 3 million in Massachusetts.
More »